Best Method of Labeling Shelf Life Containers of Urethanes and Plastics

[cme843]

We are a small tooling manufacturing company recently certified to AS9100. Our current system for labeling shelf life containers is to mark them with a black sharpie. However expiration dates are often rubbed off or faded when the material drips out of the bottles or just from everyday handling. I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to mark containers with the expiration dates as no method seems practical. Labels would fall off; a stamp would not work on surfaces that are not flat, and the ink would likely rub off the same as a marker. What do other companies do to identify expiration dates when dealing with messy liquids? Our only thought now is to stick with the sharpies and just be alert enough to re-write dates when they get faded or rubbed off? But that in and of itself is a risk.

 

[MIREGMGR]

Labels would fall off

Use a chemically resistant labeling system, probably with a markable surface under a high-chemical-resistance overlay, with a high-permanence adhesive system.

Also, use a container that indicates (such as by means of a pouring spout) the direction of intended pour, and put the label 180 degrees around from there.

 

[Ronen E]

Hello and welcome to the Cove

What sort of containers are you relating to? What is their shape? what are they made of?

Cheers,
Ronen.

 

[NikkiQSM]

Why not write down the expiration dates with the black sharpie and apply a clear piece of industrial tape over it? That should keep it from wiping off.

 

[cme843]

Thank you very much everyone for the suggestions!

 

[msec0990]

I know this is a bit late, but ...

Depending on how many labels you need to produce, a labeling system might be useful. We use a Brother P-touch system and I use it to generate literally hundreds of labels a year. This covers us for our in-house calibrations, labels for machinery, files, etc. and is a relatively low cost option. I'm sure other companies produce similar systems, but this is the only one I've used.

I can also say that the industrial tape option mentioned above works, at least against oils.